Sharing architectures

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:17:00 GMT

The last user group session may have seen a small turnout, but we did have some interesting discussion about sharing architecture. Here are my notes.

Architecture document should outline decisions and their implications - get people to sign-up (emotionally and contractually).
Writing the architecture document provides benefit because you are going through the thought process.
Who do we need to share the architecture with?
Who is the audience and what is important to them?
- Development team
- Support staff
- Budget holders
- External test team
How does the architecture document help these people and what is it that they find useful?
Should we ask developers to sign-off on the architecture?
Is "pair architecting" common practice and/or should we do more of it?
Documents are typically written to "cover your ass" rather than to be informative for developers and other stakeholders.
People's experience suggests that others don't retain the information they read in a document.
Documents are typically out of date (i.e. they are historical as soon as they are written).
"I don't have time to read it" is a common reason why people don't read the architecture documentation.
How large are people's architecture documents? (see results)
As software architects, we aren't paid to write documentation, we're paid to build working software.
Drawing on a whiteboard is often the best way to share an architecture.
- It's useful seeing how the diagram is drawn (i.e. where does it start, order of components, etc).
- It can be frustrating to re-draw the diagram(s) every time somebody asks about the architecture.
Why isn't architecture documentation updated?
UML diagrams are too much trouble (i.e. keeping them in sync with reality, use of a separate modelling tool, etc).
- Should CASE tools be better?
Is it better to put the information in people's hands? (e.g. architecture information in the IDE).

If you came along, feel free to add your own notes in the comments. Both the slides and video are available for download, and stay tuned for a podcast of the audio from the session. The next user group is scheduled for Tuesday, 6th May.

London User Group - April 2008

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:23:00 GMT

Here are the details of the April London User Group.

Title : Sharing Architectures
Summary : The transition from architectural vision to production code is not always an easy one. Of course we plan for a certain amount of change and accept that some decisions will, on occasion, be wrong. However, without effective communication of the architecture and timely feedback mechanisms, can we really expect to see software that we recognise?

Whether we're up to our elbows in an agile team or riding a barrel down a waterfall project, our choice of what we define and how we convey it can have an enormous bearing on how the architecture is reflected in the software. This session takes a look at some techniques for sharing the architecture and not just publishing it.
Speakers : Kevin Seal
Date : Tuesday, 8th April 2008
Time : 18:30-20:00
Location : Skills Matter, 1 Sekforde Street
Format : Presentation followed by a breakout for discussion, with further discussion in a local pub (The Crown).
Cost : Free, but registration is required.

Many thanks to Skills Matter for sponsoring the user group.

Just a quick comment for anyone that is unable to attend the session : we will again be recording the session along with the subsequent discussion and releasing it as a podcast. Hopefully the quality will be a little better this month as we have some new toys to help with the recording!

Coding the Architecture - sharing architecture tag

Sharing architectures

London User Group - April 2008